Similarities Between The Holocaust And The Crucible

Intolerance is synonymous with small-mindedness, parochialism, bias, discrimination, and inequality. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, intolerance is the main theme. In addition to The Crucible, the Holocaust is a prime example of a historical event where intolerance is present. The underlying theme in The Crucible that usually goes hand-in-hand with intolerance is hysteria. There is a cause and effect relationship between the two; when there is a high level of intolerance, the people involved usually end up contributing to the existence of hysteria. There are many similarities between the Holocaust and The Crucible, but the one that stands out the most is the prevalence of both hysteria and intolerance being woven into the culture. Intolerance

This leader seems to give very logical and well thought out reasons as to why it’s okay to be intolerant of something. In the Holocaust, this leader was Adolf Hitler. Comparably, the leader in The Crucible was Abigail Williams. Intolerance was the backbone to the horrible proceedings in the Holocaust and The Crucible. Because of the level of intolerance within the societies, there were millions of deaths and the most common emotion was fear. People that were of high standing in the community were almost immune to accusations in The Crucible. They believed themselves to be better than the poor or homeless because they had ‘better’ lives. When Hale believes that the Devil has stuck Parris’s home, Miller writes, “We have all a manner of licentious people in the village!”(Miller 41). This type of thing occurred in the 1930’s-1940’s; the only difference being instead of witches, there were Jewish people. During the Holocaust, people of high social status did not associate with the Jewish people because they were terrified of guilt by association. Once you are given a bad label, it never goes away. Even if you are falsely accused and released,